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SLAVERY: 

Its Sin, Moral Effects, and Certain Death. 

-A.3LiSO 

THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE. 

IN PROSE AND TERSE. 



4 





'Tis Heaven's decree, " Slavery must die," 
Freedom to all ! is proclaimed from on high . 



BY JUSTUS KEEFER. 

WITH EXTRACTS PROM EMINENT AUTHOR 




BALTIMORE: 

J. KEEFER, PUBLISHER, 

No. 109 N. Broadway. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 18G4, 

By JUSTUS KEEFER, 

m the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the District of Maryland. 




Liberty, with one mighty stroke, 

Proclaims Ethiopia free! 

And shouts the death of Slavery. 



SLAVERY^ 



I. 

When wars are raging, who can speak 

Of a country's weal or woe ? 
When nations grow too proud or great, 

And their God refuse to know, 
He'll surely break their idols. 

And their temples overthrow ; 
But the Patriot, the noble and brave. 
Made morally fit his country to save, 
May sheathe the sword, for victory is sure, 
When the heart that strikes for freedom is pure ; 



6 SLAVERY : 

But enough ! 'tis not of a nation's quarrel 

My muse would write ; so, i3referring the moral— 

To seek out the wrong, and it pursue — 

I turn, oppressed Africa, to you. 

II. 

Long have you borne the heavy burden, 
But now your prayers are heard in heaven ; 
Let angels the glorious news proclaim, 
Africa's free ! and her sons God's free men ! 

III. 

Instead of chains and hopeless, tears. 

The master's lash and threatening fears; 

The auctioneer's boisterous jest. 

As he tears from the mother's breast 

Her babe, her hope, her life, her all, 

Hushing with stripes her frantic call: 

Instead of these — 0, glorious hope! 

Liberty, with one mighty stroke, 

Proclaims Ethiopia free. 

And shouts the death of Slavery I 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 

lY. 

The thunder of war, rolling o'er the plains, 
Declares the truth that men, though in chains. 

Are born equal and free. 
Thy tears, fond mother, were not shed in vain ; 
They were bottled in heaven, and now they rain 

Blessings on thy race and thee, 

V. 

Heaven slumbers not, and her judgments are sure ; 
The cries of thy babe on a far- distant shore, 

(Though in vain, to see thy face,) 
Are heard in heaven in behalf of thee. 
And to thy poor, oppressed posterity, 

Bring joy and heavenly grace. 

VI. 

Hark ! Christian mother ! turn not away 
From that voice of wailing and sad misery ; 
Think, when at even you retire to rest, 
(Your babe nestling sweetly upon your breast,) 
Of that mother doomed to slavery and chains ; 



8 SLAVERY : 

No time to improve either body or brains I 
Does not your tender heart in horror recoil 
At such scenes of oppression and ceaseless toil 1 

VII . 

God has endowed her with feelings, e'en as thee; 
Placed within her breast the germ of Liberty ; 
Given her a mind — aye, and reason as well, 
That she might as fondly her little ones tell 
Of a Father's love, a home beyond the skies. 
Where tyrant masters no longer mock their cries. 
Slave mother ! may your heart to him be given 
Who died for all, and ope'd for all a heaven — 
An everlasting rest, where God's impartial grace, 
According to the heart, appoints each one his place. 

VIII. 

Thou enemy of Freedom, gaze upon that babe 
Of innocence — heaven's chosen type ; 
What horror would fill your soul if some one had said 
This child's not yours, and even this very night 
The law claims its own ! Is the law riyht f 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 9 

IX. 

Then teach that child, before its lisping tongue — 

Or ere its organ of speech 

Can pronounce that word of infinite wrong — 

0, mother! in heaven's name, teach 

Through this medium the ages to come, 

That of all the evils under the sun, 

That most allied — and 'tis the truth you know — 

That most allied to the regions of woe, 

And that, too, in the lowest degree. 

Is this crimson-dyed sin — Slavery. 

X. 

Now hear, ye favored ! ye who'd be truly great : 
'Tis not by being mastei*s, but humble and meek ; 
•Tis not your person, nor the color of your skin, 
That God respects, but truth and righteousness within. 
All else, then, being equal, he loves you no more 
Than the poor unlettered slave who waits at your door. 
Whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, 
In Christ all are one. So may it he. 



\ 



10 



SLAVERY 



XI. 

My sin-sick soul, weary and oppressed, 

Craves some quiet haunt that man can't degrade ; 

A retreat in "some vast wilderness, 
Or boundless continuity of shade," 

Where oppression could never reach me more, 

Nor sin polute that quiet, peaceful shore. 

XII. 

My ear is pained with ev'ry day's report 

Of the wrongs of which the earth is filled. 
Which cause the blood in man's obdurate heart 

To stiffen with a convulsive chill ! 
My restless soul looks abroad, but in vain, 
For that natural bond ^^id love among men ; 
For the one being weak an'd the other strong, 
(Thus having the power to enforce a wrong) — 
Blush, humanity ! when I say — 
Dooms and devotes him his lawful prey. 

xin. 

Thus man dooms his fellow — exacts the sweat of him 
Created in the moral image of his God ; 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 11 

And, as if 'twere not enough, 0, monstrous sin ! 

Lays stripes upon his back, thus forcing his blood 
In a way that, were it inflicted on a beast, 

Mercy, with a bleeding heart, would hang her head 
and weep. 

xiy. 

Then what, alas! is man, or what man, seeing this, 
(His brother held like a beast by a chain,) 
That would not hang his head and in confusion blush 
To feel, to think, to own himself a man! 

XV. 

Yes, man destroys his brother ; and ! is it not, 
Of all human miseries, the most to be deplored ! 

Fpon the pages of sin, 'tis the foulest blot, 
And, of all others, the most to be abhorred. 

XVI. 
I'd not have a slave to till my ground, 

Or fan me while I sleep ; 
To tremble at each disturbing sound, 

And tremble when I wake, 



12 slavery: 

For all the wealth of sinews bought and sold ; 
For this would be ill-gotten, sordid gold! 

XVII. 

No ! dear and sacred as Freedom is, 

And, in my estimation, prized above all price, 

I had rather myself be the slave. 

Than doom a brother an unwilling sacrifice. 

XVIII. 

0! shame, then, that man, the noblest work of God, 

With high and holy aspirations endowed. 

Who, blest with a nature to feel and believe 

It infinitely better to give than receive ; 

A nature that seeks to comfort the oppressed 

With a spirit of disinterestedness. 

That he should engage in acts so foul — 

Acts that degrade and currupt the soul ! 

XIX. 

Those finer feelings that adorn the soul, 
Have been corrupted by a thirst for gold. 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 13 

With ears that won't hear, and eyes that won't see, 

And a heart that won't feel another's misery, 

Man grinds the face of God's suffering poor, 

'Til a broken heart, that can bear no more, 

Dies a victim to this monster ; and what is still worse, 

Incapable of pity or feelings of remorse. 

XX. 

Why should man thus despise his fellow-man, 
If nature clothes him with a darker skin ? 
Tis a vain cause, surely, for wicked strife ; 
For of the heart are the issues of life ; 
From this the all-seeing eye of God 
Writes a true and impartial record ; 
If the heart be right 'tis well, for then 
Art thou only accepted of him ; 
Whether white or black, bond or free, 
Race, or color, argues nothing for thee. 

XXI. 
All flesh is mine, says the eternal God, 
And surely I'll exact every man's blood ; 



14 SLAVERY : 

At his hands will I exact it again, 
Who holds his brother in slavery and sin ; 
Then hear, ye nations ! heaven's decree — 
Tis Grod that speaks — Let my people go free! 

XXII. 

A great work for humanity's come : 
'Tis heard in the cannon's loud roar ; 

'Tis heard in each tap of the drum, 
In the rolling thunders of war ; 

It is seen upon the battle-field, 
Where God's armies cover the plain — 

Reflected from each warrior's shield. 
Each sabre_, glitt'ring in the sun ; 

The bugle, as it calls to arms. 
To the friends of Freedom proclaims, 

The year of jubilee has come. 

xxm. 

Yes, the year of jubilee has come; 

Ethiopia ! to thee 
Each sigh,, each tear, each stripe, each groan, 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 15 

Strikes a death blow to Slavery ! 
And your soldiers brave the shout will raise, We are 

free! 
Inscribe on their banners, Life, Hope and Liberty. 

:XXIV. 

Thus Liberty greets thee, as with waving hands 

She bids thee onward to the field ; 
There is hope in her smile, and in her commands 

All tyrants shall be made to feel 
That now 'tis thy turn to deal back the blow 
Their pitiless hearts so oft did bestow ; 
With shame and reproach, e'en from thee they shally 

learn. 
As we do to others we receive in return. 

XXV. 
Then arise ! away with these galling chains ! 
Let Ethiopia forget her pains ; 
The avenger of tyranny and wrong 
Will lead thee to victory ; then onward, on ! 
Yes, God will avenge his suffering poor. 
E'en though by the scourge and horrors of war . 



16 



SLAVERY : 



XXYI. 

The type of thy freedom is in the slave, 
Marching boldly to battle with the brave ; 
Then onward with a firm and steady step, 
If honest and true, you'll never regret; 
A pure heart, and conscience void of offense, 
Is the best guide at the smallest expense. 
Then, when the enemy appears in view, 
Be calm : strike with a firm and steady blow ; 
Raise the battle-cry — ''Freedom! Libert ij! — 
Death to tyrants, traitors and Slavery I " 

XXVII. 

Forget not the wrongs, outrage and disgrace, 
Endured so long by your oppressed race ; 
Let your ears be deaf to every sound save 
Those which issue from the deep-vaulted grave ! 
The groans and cries of a father, a mother, 
Or, perchance, thine own child, sister or brother : 
''Avenge our blood," you should still hear them say, 
Though their bodies lie mould'ring in the clay. 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 17 

XXVIII. 

But see that you follow where God doth lead ; 
Let no selfish vengeance your passions feed. 
"Vengeance is mine; I'll repay," saith the Lord; 
So prosper you must, if you heed his word. 
Surely thou art honored in bearing arms, 
And this to thy race should have many charms. 
Then grasp the sword firmly — challenge the fight ; 
It leads the way to equity and right. 

XXIX. 

As an instrument in the hands of God, 
You will have to bear o less heavy load. 
A slave ! a soldier I Who cannot discern 
The contrast ? and with a heart that must burn 
For Freedom — Freedom for himself and race — • 
Nothing less can remove this foul disgrace. 

XXX. 
Then let the scabbard hang empty by 
The side of him who had rather die 

Than be a slave! — yes, there let it hang, 
2 



18 slavery: 

And let not the sword return as-ain 
Until Freedom, although dearly bought, 
Be the boon of those brave souls who fought, 
'Til treason is crushed, and our nation see 
The dawn of universal Liberty ! 

XXXI. 

' ' Cry aloud and spare not, and be sure you proclaim 
To my people and the house of Jacob their sin. 
They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways ; 
A nation that did right, e'en as in other days; 
Forsook not the ord'uance nor oracles of God, 
They ask of me justice and delight in my word. 
AYherefore have we fasted ? say they in surprise^ 
And thou behold'st not, nor see'st with thine eyes ? 
We afflict our souls, and thou takest no knowledge ; 
Wherefore do we labor and have no advantage ?" 

XXXII. 

"Behold, ye fast for strife;" ye quarrel and debate; 
Smite with the fist of wickedness, envy and hate ; 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 19 

But ye shall not so fast as ye do this day, 
To make your voice heard with railing on high. 
Is it such a fast I have chosen ? Nay, behold ! 
'Tis not my will that man should thus afflict his soul, 
To bow down his head and appear as a bulrush ; 
To cover it with ashes and mourn in sackcloth. 
* ' Behold ! is not this the fast that I have chosen : 
To loose the wicked bands and the heavy burden ? 
Is it not to deal thy bread to the poor, and see 
Every yoke broken, and that the oppressed go free ? 

XXXIII. 

Come, then, to the work, ye men of God! 
And boldly proclaim his blessed word ; 
Let not the organ of moral reform 
"Withhold its strong and powerful arm. 
Why be so fearful lest ye give offense, 
Be charged with over zeal or imprudence ? 
What though the people should rise up and say, 
"He preaches politics!" and then go away? 



20 SLAVERY : 

XXXIV. 

Be not discouraged, if but twelve remain, 
'Twas even so in the great Master's time. 
The truth is not always pleasing, you know, 
But persevere — it is destined to grow. 
Compromise it not, neither hold your peace ; 
Sow the seed^ and God will give the increase. 

XXXY. 

Light with darkness can never agree ; 
And so with Freedom and Slavery. 
Truth in one and error in another. 
Create strife between brother and brother. 
"I come not to send peace but a sword I" 
And, as in the days of our blessed Lord, 
So now. Christ with Baal cannot agree. 
Nor with the spirit of Slavery. 

XXXVI. 

* ' Behold ! " men say_, ' ' an evil hath been," 
And so justify the present sin. 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 21 

"Come," say they, "let us oppress the poor, 
The same as our father's did of yore ! " 
Thus they rebel and fight against Grod, 
And stain their hands in innocent blood. 

XXXVII. 

Shall this thing be, and you hold your peace? 
Shall the threatenings of God's law thus cease ? 
Shall the wicked mock, make light of sin, 
And you remain passive lookers on? 
Nay ! proclaim the doctrine of my word. 
And "stand in my counsel," saith the Lord, 
•' Tliat you may cause my people to fear. 
And s:ave both thyself and them that hear." 

XXXVIII. 

' ' Hoar, king of Judea ! " thus saith the Lord, 
"Speak to thy servants, thy people, my word." 
Thou that sittest on David's throne, proclaim 
That they cease from evil and do no wrong 
To the stranger, the widow, the fatherless, 



22 SLAVERY : 

But execute judgment in righteousness, 
For he that buildeth his chambers by wrong, 
Withholding wages for services done, 
Shall not do so this day, but give 
To ev'ry one his wages, and live I 

XXXIX. 

So preach, ye who stand on Zion's hill ! 
Blow loud the gospel trumpet, e'en until 
All— yes, until the poor bondsman shall know 
The great salvation which through Christ doth flov,^ 

XL. 

Had I a voice that could reach all round 
This Globe, with thrill and piercing sound, 
With one loud blast I'd summons all men 
To hearken — and this should be mv thcurj — 
Rise, ye people! rise in your strength, 
Throughout the land, its breadth and its L .. .\'i. 
And, with one united stroke, for ever slay 
This hydra-headed monster — Slavc.nj. 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 28 

XLI. 

Mark ye well the man — nay, that vile thing 
Who'd be gnilty of so foul a sin, 
To put a chain round his brother's neck. 
And make of human blood a traffic. 
Of all the race this man is the one 
That humanity should blush to own. 

XLII. 

"Perpetual slavery I " I loathe the sound ! 
This ceaseless toil — this one continued round 
Of work. This night of sorrow knows no day ; 
Not one cheering hope; not a single ray 
Of light to chase away this dismal gloom — 
Worse, far worse than the darkness of the tomb. 

XLIII. 

And for what? What evil has he done, 
That the father, his child, and so on, 
Until all — e'en the entire race — 
Must yield to this infamous disgrace. 



24 



SLAVERY : 



XLTY. 

The light of God's truth can scarce reach the soul 
In this dreary waste, so dismal and cold ; 
Here the mind, untutored and untaught, 
Lies withering and incapable of thought. 

XLY. 

O, ye who bear the Christain name, 
Look on your slave, and 0, for shame ! 
Since righteous you profess to be. 
Undo these chains — this misery! 
Thy slave has a soul e'en as thou, 
And in Christ all are free, you know. 
By what moral right, then, can ye hold 
His subjects under your control? 

XLVI. 

Will ye say, by the right of power, 
The same as in the days of old ? 
Ah ! what scenes of bloodshed and war 
Are practiced now by this same rule ! 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 25 

Ye quote the Scriptures and insist 

That these to Slavery do hold, 

But other evils — not only this, 

Were practiced in those times, we're told : 

They speak of Noah's fondness for wine, 

And the incest of good old Lot; 

The 'concubinage of Abraham, 

And the polygamy of Jacob. 

Why not conclude that these are no sin. 

Since all were practiced, we see, by them? 

XLVII. 

Ah! ye thirst for gold, and the mind would have 
ease ; 

Hence ye seek in the Bible for excuse, 
With little effort the heart is made believe 

That always right which suits the present use. 
Thus you bring reproach upon God's blessed word, 

Force the Scriptures to teach that which is untrue ; 
But ye friends of Slavery, thus saith the Lord, 

'* Do to others as you'd have others do to you." 



26 SLAVERY : 

XLVIII. 

Slavery, as a penalty for sin, 

Was allowed, but with a woe unto him 

Who, without limit of time or mercy, 

Would dare exact his sweat or usury. 

But truth is progressive, and this we know, 

That nations do wiser and better grow; 

For the time has been, (0 how sad to believe.) 

When Christian baptism was refused the slave ! 

XLIX. 

Now the reason for this is plain to see ; 
Baptized into Christ, they all become free. 
Then shout the truth, ye ages, as ye roll on ; 
There is Liberty for all in God's dear son. 

L. 

Thus, by virtue of redeeming grace, 
The right of property in human flesh 
Is null; and this, as none can fail to see, 
Is bad news to the friends of Slavery, 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 27 

LI. 

Thus, fearing your craft would come to nought, 

(And what soul does not sicken at the thought ?) 

Man, created with an immortal mind, 

Is doomed to ignorance of the grossest kind ; 

He must not read nor instructed be, 

For knowledge inclines to Liberty. 

LII. 
\Yhat man, having the feelings of a man, 
That would not hang his head and blush for shame, 
To own a system so corrupt as this, 
That puts man on a level with a beast ? 

LIII. 

The Scriptures do teach, "Let your light shine." 

" Not so," proclaims some modern divine, 

" Our system must by ignorance live ; 

So darkness — not light — suits best the slave." 

LIV. 

thou — to say the least — misguided man! 
Sooner or later you will understand 



28 SLAVERY : 

That mind cannot be holden with a chain ; 

It will break its fetters and rise again. 

Your system of oppression may last for a while, 

But God will hear the cries of his suffering child. 

LV. 

""Go through the land, preach my gospel to all;" 

Is not this your ministerial call ? 

For how can they hear without a preacher, 

Or the ignorant learn without a teacher ? 

Faith comes, you know, by hearing God's word ; 

But how shall they believe who never heard ? 

LVI. 

Should you preach to your slave, what would you say? 
That the wife should the husband obey? 
That the husband should love and cherish his wife. 
And make her the object of his care through life ? 
Would you say, furthermore, that they twain were 

one — 
United never again to be undone ? 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 29 

Nay ; you'd scarce be guilty of such a blunder, 
To say they should uever be put asunder ; 
For well do you know that ere another day, 
A mortgage on his life might tear him away. 

LYII. 

Ah ! 'twere but mockery and foul deceit ; 

For the slave, you must know, has not the right 

To succor his ofispring, protect his wife ; 

To defend either theirs or his own life. 

They are not his, save by moral right, 

Which a legal process can abrogate. 

Thus a mere chattel, like his master's ox, or horse, 

He is wliipt or sold without pity or reniore. 

LVIII. 

The marriage rite — heaven's sacred gift to man — 
Ye deny, and with a high and wicked hand, 
Remove and erase it from the word of Grod, 
Thus changing and corrupting his blessed word ; 
But to them that add to or take therefrom, 
Shall be added the plagues written therein. 



30 SLAVERY : 

LIX. 

My sick and weary soul doth mourn 

That love which seeketh not her own, 

But another's good. 

when will man — vain, selfish man — 

This lesson rightly understand, 

And spread its fruits abroad? 

LX. 

Spread abroad a knowledge of God; 

His universal Fatherhood, 

And man's own destiny. 

Teach the slave to worship and pray, 

Nor wear his precious soul away 

En chains and slavery. 

LXI. 

A lifetime of toil to undergo. 

Is surely too much misery and woe. 

E'en for the Father; 

But his innocent child, pure as the morn. 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 31 

Alas ! too soon the same hard fate must learn, 
And that from a brother. 

LXII. 

O slavery ! thou curse of the vilest breed ! 
Not only in the world dost sow thy seed ; 
For, strange to discover^ 
Those who, by Christian profession, seek 
To comfort the poor and protect the weak. 
Oppress one another. 

LXIII. 

But God has set a furnace in the earth ; 
Its flames the cannon are now belching forth. 
These thunders will not cease to roll, 
(Though the earth vibrate from pole to pole,) 
'Til the sin-laden clouds have ceased to rain. 
And the moral atmosphere is pure again. 

LXIV. 

Then this night of sorrow will flee away 
Before the dawn of a glorious day ; 



32 SLAVEEY : 

Again the morning stars will sing for joj. 
And righteousness become each soul's employ ; 
For a new creation, new heavens and new earth. 
From his fiery furnace God will bring forth ; 
Then let the nation^s bow — the Lord doth reign — 
And every soul shout, "^Amen! AmenT^ 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 33 



SL&YERY. 



We take great pleasure in adding the following 
from the pen of the Rev. J. D. Paxton : 

"There are many things in negro slavery, as it 
exists among us, to which we all would think it 
exceedingly hard and unjust, to be ourselves and 
families subjected. Now the law of "doing as we 
would be done by" — the law of "loving our neigh- 
bor as ourselves," — appears to me most manifestly 
to forbid that we should subject others to these things. 

The negro slave may, with a solitary exception, be 
said to be stript of all his rights. The law recog- 
nizes his right to life, and makes some provisions 
to secure it from being violently taken away; but 



34 SLAVERY : 

even those provisions are far short of what are deemed 
necessary to secure the life of the white man. How 
this difference is viewed in the eyes of him who 
"made of one blood all nations of men," and declares 
"himself no respecter of persons," deserves the seri- 
ous consideration of all, and especially of those who 
call God their Father, and profess to take his word 
for the rule of their conduct. 

With the above exception, I hardly know the right, 
natural, civil or religious, which the slave can be said 
to possess. All are claimed by the master; and the 
law of the land sustains his claim. The slave is 're- 
duced to a mere chattel — is held by his master as 
property, with absolute and uncontrolled authority to 
use him and treat him as his interest, or passion, or 
caprice may dictate. The slave may be bought and 
sold at pleasure, and that without any regard to his 
inclinations ; without any regard to long and faithful 
services, and without any regard to family ties. His 
times of labour and of rest, the kind and degree of 
labor, depend on the will of his master. Should a 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 36 

master refuse the degree of rest needful to support 
nature — should he work his slave beyond his natural 
strength — the slave has no redress. No one is 
authorized to interfere. The master claims the whole 

proceeds of the labor of the slave, and that without 
acknowledging any obligation to give any compensa- 
tion, more than a bare subsistence. And as to the 
means of subsistence, the kind and quantity of food 
and clothing, the master has it absolutely in his 
power. Should he give what is unhealthy in kind 
and insufficient in quantity, there is no redress. The 
master may punish his slave in what manner and de- 
gree he pleases, (not immediately taking life,) for his 
faults, real or suspected, or for no fault at all. 
Should a master from prejudice, or caprice, or sheer 
cruelty, abuse and punish and torture his slave every 
day, as much as his nature would bear, I know of no 
law of the land which would make it the duty or en- 
able any one to interfere and stop the crying injustice. 
The master may cut off his slave to what extent he 
please from intercourse with the world. He may 



36 SLAVERY : 

prevent his forming family connections, or he may 
break them up when formed. Where the relation of 
husband and wife exists in good faith between the 
parties, and is strengthened by all the endearments 
of a family of children, the pledges of their mutual 
love, the law still gives no protection. The master 
may sell the husband without the wife, or the wife 
without the husband ; the parents without the chil» 
dren, or the children without the parents. He may 
sell them all — he may sell them all separately — one 
to one man, to be removed in one direction, and an- 
other to another man, to be taken in a different direc- 
tion, as his interest, passion or caprice may influence. 
The owner may keep his slaves as ignorant as he 
please, or as ignorant as he can. He may refuse to 
teach them to read, and may forbid any other person 
to do it ; he may oppose their religious instruction ; 
He may prevent their attending the preaching of the 
Gospel ; he may place them in situations so remote 
from the public means of grace, and so lay his com- 
mands on them as to staying at home, that, humanly 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 37 

speaking, the slave has no chance of hearing and un- 
derstanding the gospel to his salvation. Yea, so abso- 
lute is the power of the master, and so cut off from 
all help and all defence is the slave, that the slave 
may be obliged to enter on and pursue sinful courses. 
Female slaves ma}^ be compelled to unclean living. 
The direct power of the owner or manager to enforce 
his wishes by hard usage and punishment in various 
forms, and the want of means and defence on the part 
of the slave, even as to giving testimony against a 
white man, places the purity of the female, and the 
comfort and happiness of both male and female, as 
connected with female purity and mutual confidence, 
in the power of those over them. Whether slaves be 
allowed to perform parental duties, educate their chil- 
dren, or children perform filial duties, depends on the 
will of the owner. 

It would be easy to add to the above statement, 
other things in which the situation of the slave is 
most exposed — is most hard — is such as their mas- 
ters would be utterly unwilling to be held in them- 



38 SLAVERY : 

selves with their families — -is such that masters would 
think it righteous in the sight of God and man to run 
every hazard and contend even unto blood, rather 
than continue in it, and leave it a heritage of suffer- 
ings and wrongs to their children. 

Now the single question I would press for an an- 
swer, given in the fear of God, is this : 

Is the believer in the Bible, is the professor of the 
religion of Christ, justified — can he be justified in the 
sight of him who is no respecter of person ? — ■ Can he 
be justified by that word of God which commands him 
to "love his neighbor as himself?" — by that com- 
mand of Christ, "In all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them," 
can he, I say, be justified in holding a fellow creature 
deprived of his rights which, in his own case, he de- 
clares unalienable ; and for which he would think 
himself justified in the sight of heaven and earth, in 
contending even unto blood? — Can he be justified in 
giving his countenance to a system, which is based 
on a total disregard for rights, which he puts in the 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 39 

same scale with his own existence, — a system which 
opens the door for evils and oppressions, against 
which he would think it right to defend himself and 
family at every hazard ? Can he be acquitted before 
that "God who is of purer eyes that to behold ini- 
quity," in giving in to a practice pregnant with so 
many evils ; which presents such strong temptations 
to iniquity, and which operates in so many ways 
against the salvation of both master and slaves ? 

I think it useless here to enumerate all the ways in 
which professors of religion explain the ' ' rule of do- 
ing as we would be done by," in its application to 
slavery. Perhaps the more common way is to apply 
the rule to the case in a very partial manner ; in a 
manner so partial as not at all to touch its most essen- 
tial parts. Thus the whole matter of depriving a fel- 
low creature of his rights, or (which in its morality is 
the same) withholding them from him, is passed over. 

The rule of doing as we would be done by is not 
applied to the act of withholding his rights, but to 
the treatment he receives, considered as thus stripped 



40 



SLAVERY : 



of them ! ^Xe daily meet with persons who appear to 
make the whole morality of holding slaves consist in 
the manner of treating them. To the treatment of 
slaves simply considered, they, in some sort, apply 
the rule ; but to the act of holding a fellow creature 
in slavery, considered separately from his treatment 
in that state, they appear not to apply the rule at all. 
They take it for granted that the ' ' rule of doing as 
we would be done by," allows the holding of slaves, 
provided we treat them well. 

Now this to me appears, most manifestl}-, a partial 
application of the rule to the case. The most impor- 
tant p: rt of the case is not tried by the rule at all, 
No question is made about stripping a fellow creature 
of rights, or withholding them from him. And why 

not? Is it not one of those cases in which we can 
suppose ourselves in a change of place, and so apply 
the rule as easily as we can to any special act of treat- 
ment towards those in slavery? On what authority 
is it withdrawn from the catalogue, embraced by our 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 41 

Savior in the first part of his rule: "In all things, 
&c., do ye, &c." 

It appears to me capable, if not of absolute demon- 
stration, yet of a high degree of proof, that the single 
act of withholding from a fellow creature his rights, 
or, in other words, the holding him in slavery, is the 
'■very head and front of the offending." This is the 
great original sin in every case where slavery, such 
as exists among us, is found. The treatment of 
slaves may be good or bad, kind or cruel, in all their 
various degrees; and n.ay of course be more or less 
conformable to the '-'rule of doing as we would be 
done by." But the act of depriving a fellow creature 
of his rights to the extent the negro slave is deprived 
of his, or the act of withholding or refusing to restore 
them ; or, in other words, the act of holding him in 
slavery, — is at all times and in all situations a viola- 
tion of the rule. For plainly, no man who has com- 
mon sense and understands the case would be willing 
to be stripped of his rights and held in slavery such 
as the negro is doomed to. So far from being will 



42 SLAVERY : 

ing to be treated thus, he would thmk it most hard ; 
lie would, if he understood his natural rights as most 
masters do, think it most unrighteous; and would 
think it right to make every effort to burst the bands 
and go out free. Now on what principle is it that 
the rule "of doing as we would be done by" is not 
applied to this ease ? May the professor of religion 
in the face of the rule and in the hearing of the de- 
chu'cition of his Master, " with what measure ye mete, 
it shall be measured to you again," — mete out the 
hard measure of slavery to a fellow creature, while 
he v/ould at every hazard refuse it in his own case ? 

I pass by for the present all the questions respect- 
ing the treatment of slaves, and the bearing it may 
have on their opinions on this subject. For the sake 
of getting that part of the question separated from 
the other, let us suppose that they are treated as well 
as they ought to be — that the law of doing as we 
would be done by, applied fairly to the case of their 
treatment, finds no fault ; still he is in slavery, and 
what is implied in that? Why he is stripped of all 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 4o 

his rights ; is entirely under the power of another ; 
is held as property with a long train of disabilities 
and deprivations, and liabilities to evils and oppres- 
sions in all their varieties. Now the question returns, 
do the laws which Christ has given his people to regu- 
late their conduct towards their fellow men, allow of 
this stripping another of his rights, or withholding 
them fi-om him ? It appears to me most manifest 
that they do not, and yet mau}^ appear to see the 
matter differently. It seems, therefore, necessary to 
attempt a farther illustration of it. 

No injuries are more pernicious to us, no injustice 
is more cruel than that done to our rights. This 
surely needs no proof in the day in which we live, 
and among the free and enlightened people of Amer- 
ica. Injuries of no other kind are to be compared 
with them. The reason is plain. While we are in- 
vested with our rights, they are our armor of defence 
against all kinds of evils to which we are exposed 
from our fellow men, and where an injury is received 
our rights in their legitimate operation will procure 



44 SLAVERY : 

us amends. They are an armor defensive and offen- 
sive. They afford security. But where, in any case, 
they fail to do that, they enable us to procure amends 
for the evil suffered. 

But suppose we are injured in our just unalienable 
rights ; suppose we are stripped of them ; suppose 
they are forcibly withheld from us, our armor of de- 
fence is gone. We may be injured every day — we 
may be assailed on every part. We have no lielp. 
We have not the means of defendiiic^ ourselves ao;ainst 
the injury ; we have not the means of getting amends 
for it. 

To illustrate this case, suppose a man or a body of 
men deprived of tlie single right of self-defence, and 
that not for any crime, but to enable those who de- 
prived them of the right to accomplish certain pur- 
poses with them, their families, proj)erty, &c., the 
fact that some of these persons might, owing to pecu- 
liar circumstances, feel but little inconvenience from 
the cruel measure, would not alter the character of 
the measure, nor lessen the guilt of those who passed 



ITS SIN AND DPISTRDCTION. 45 

it. The very nature and tendency of the measure 
was to expose them to oppression, injury, and 
wrong, and that without redress. No one act of 
wrong that they might meet with under it, nor any 
number of acts would equal, in their amount of wrong, 
the injustice and cruelty of the single act which 
stripped them of the right of self-defence, and for the 
plain, simple reason that the act which stripped them 
of the right of self-defence, exposed them to all kinds 
of assaults and injuries from all sorts of persons at all 
times and places. 

Or suppose any man or body of men put out of the 
protection of the law, not for any crime, but simply 
that those who did it might treat them as they please 
nnd serve themselves of them. To what does not 
their outlawry expose them ? They may be watched 
;iiid waylaid, and ensnared; they may be hunted 
with men, and guns, and dogs, and all kinds of offen- 
sive weapons ; they may be deceived and betrayed by 
acquaintances, relations and friends. No person, no 
place nor time is so sacred as to afford protection. 



46 SLAVERt J 

Now it would take nothing from the monstrous injus- 
tice of the outlawry, were we to suppose that some of 
the outlawed, owing to peculiar circumstances, felt 
few, if any, of these evils, and for the obvious reason 
that the act of outlawry exposed to all sorts of evils, 
It was its nature to do this, and if they all did not 
fall on the victim, no thanks to the act, nor to those 
who passed it. The act of outlawry is the great in- 
jury—the original sin in the case. More or less evil 
may flow from it, as times and other things may per- 
mit ; but it produces no good of itself, but evil, only 
evil, and that continually. 

That injuries in our rights are the greatest evils 
we are exposed to — -are great mother-evils, which 
are prolific of others to an unknown extent — is well 
understood by the American peoj^le. This is evi- 
denced by the fact that both the wars which were car- 
ried on against England were for rights. 

The special act of injury committed at the com- 
mencement of the revolutionary war, considered sep- 
arately from the rights involved, would, we may 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTlOx^. 47 

safely say, not have produced war. The money 
drawn from us by the three-penny tax on tea, and 
the stamp act, was not worth fighting about, except 
as it involved principle. 

But had we yielded the principle that England 
might tax us at pleasure, who can tell what taxes she 
might have laid? — what burdens imposed? She 
might have ground us to the dust, and made us hew- 
ers of wood and drawers of water, to her wants, or 
pride or extravagance. 

In the last war for Sailors' Rights, the case was 
much the same. The number of sailors impressed 
was not so great, nor their condition on board the 
British fleet so deplorable, (they fared as the British 
sailors did) as to make a resort to war indispensable, 
leaving out of view the rights involved. But had we 
given up the right of search and impressment, who 
can tell to what extent it might have gone ? Who 
can tell how many thousands might have been torn 
from house and home and all that was dear, and made 
CO spend their lives in fighting the battles of England ? 



48 slavery: 

We might refer to the^-ptolitical questions now agi- 
tated with so much earnestness between the National 
and State Governments, and their adherents. Eights 
are the bone of contention. And they are contended 
for with a zeal which proves that their worth is un- 
derstood. It is seen, and felt, and avowed, that with 
our rights is connected every thing that is dear ; that 
if they be lost, all is lost ; if they be saved;, all is safe. 

That our rights are more important than anything 
else of which we can be deprived — that we may re- 
ceive a deeper injur}^ in our rights, than in any other 
way, (and of course may do a greater injury to an- 
other in his rights) is on the whole, well understood 
by the mass of the people. They have been pretty 
well schooled on this matter. 

Now to see a professor of religion who is thus alive 
to the worth of rights ; thus alive to the deep and ir- 
reparable injury which he may receive from that 
quarter ; and who professes obedience to the command 
of his Lord, to "Love his neighbour as himself" — 
"To do in all things as he would be done by," — to 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 49 

see him, in applying this rule to the case of slavery, 
pass over the whole matter of rights, the very part 
where he is most alive in his own case — the very part 
where the deepest wound may be given — the greatest 
injustice committed — and busy himself about the quan- 
tity of bread, and meat, and clothing, which will sat- 
isfy the rule — what shall we say of it ! ' 'What man 
seeing this, and having human feelings, does not blush, 
and hang his head to think himself a man." 

What were the rights we were like to lose at the 
commencement of the revolutionary war ? and to pre- 
vent which we entered into that fearful strife? The 
right of not being taxed but with our own consent. 
And what were the rights contended for in the last 
war? The rights of not being subject to search and 
impressment. These rights were, in the view of the 
people at large, worth contending for unto blood. 
The great bulk of professirg Christians thought so too, 
and gave ample proof that they approved of the war, 
as right and necessary, by contributing their part to 
5 



50 slavery: 

support it ; and many of them by treading the tented 
field and mingling in the strife of battle. 

Now, what are these rights compared with the rights 
of which the slave is deprived? They are mere no- 
thing ! and how can the Christian slave-holder say, 
he obeys Christ, "he does as he would be done by?" 

But it will, perhaps, be said, that slaves don't know 
their rights ; 'they have never possessed them and 
can't estimate their loss ! Now passing the generosity 
and justice of withholding from a fellow creature his 
rights, because he is ignorant of them,^or unable to 
assert thom, I would like to know how it is reconciled 
with the morality of the gospel ? what part of the 
teaching of Christ or his apostles, gives the shadow 
of authority for a course of conduct of this kind? 
How can it be reconciled with the rule of "doing as 
we would be done by ?" 

Apply the principle to the case of property. An 
orphan has right to property ; but owing to some un- 
toward circumstance in which he has been placed in 
infancy, and kept ever afterwards, he knows but little, 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 51 

if anything of his rights. The whole matter is so 
situated, that while his right is good, his neighbor 
can keep him from the possession of it, and, to a 
great degree, ignorant of his right to it, and destitute 
of the information needful to make the best use of 
it, where he in any way to get it in possession. 

What now would we say of the honesty of that 
neighbor, who would take advantage in such a case? 
What would we say of his excuse, "he does not know 
the property is his ;" "he does not know his rights;" 
'•he can make no estimate of his loss." And how 
much would he mend the matter in the eyes of every 
honest man were he to say the person whose property 
I hold, not only does not know that it is his, or at least 
I can hold it in spite of him ; but he is too ignorant 
to make a good use of it, if he had it ; when it was 
notorious that he had kept him in ignorance, as a 
means of keeping him from his rights?. And were 
this defrauder and oppressor to plead the example of 
others who acted in the same way ; where he to plead 
that every man with a white face in his neighborhood, 



52 SLAVERY : 

treated every one with a yellow or a black face, as he 
did the orphan boy, how much would he help his 
cause? Were he to profess the religion of the Lord 
Jesus, and take his seat at the sacramental table, 
while he still held on to the wages of unrighteous- 
ness, what would we say of his profession ? what would 
we say of his religion ? Suppose he were heard to 
say, and with great self-complacency, "I am good to 
the orphan boy ; I have, it is true, stripped him of 
his all, but I am not cruel to him. I give him bread 
and meat when he passes, and at times make him 
presents of my old clothes." 

How would public indignation brand such conduct. 
How would the report of it spread from Dan to Beer- 
sheba; and how would his name, blotted with dis- 
grace, be handed down to posterity. 

Now what is the loss of property compared with 
the loss of liberty ? what is poverty compared with 
slavery ? and on what page of Scripture is the rule of 
justice, of doing as we would be done by, suspended, 
when we meet with a man with a black face. 



EESISTIITCE TO OPPEESSIOH. 

Br J. QuiNCY, Jr. 



To complain of the enormities of power, to expos- 
tulate with overgrown oppressors, hath in all ages 
been denominated sedition and faction ; and to turn 
upon tyrants, treason and rebellion. But tyrants are 
rebels against the first laws of heaven and society ; to 
oppose their ravages is an instinct of nature — the 
inspiration of God in the heart of man. In the noble 
resistance which mankind make to exorbitant ambi- 
tion and power, they always feel that divine afflatus 
which, paramount to every thing human, causes them 
to consider the Lord of Hosts as their leader, and his 
angels as fellow-soldiers. Trumpets are to them joy- 
ful sounds, and the ensigns of war the banners of 
God. Their wounds are bound up in the oil of a 



54 SLAVERY : 

good cause ; sudden death is to them present martyr- 
dom, and funeral obsequies resurrections to eternal 
honor and glory,' — their widows and babes being re- 
ceived into the arms of a compassionate God, and 
their names enrolled among David's worthies : — 
greatest losses are to them greatest gains ; for they 
leave the troubles of their warfare to lie down on beds 
of eternal rest and felicity. 



T Y 



ST OF &ITTI~SLxtYSSY EYEHTS. 



The following is a list of anti-Slavery "events" 
which have occurred during the first four years of the 
rebellion : 

1. Emancipation in Western Virginia. 

2. Emancipation in Missouri. 

3. Emancipation in the District of Columbia. 

4. Emancipation in Maryland. 

5. Slavery abolished and forever prohibited in all 
the Territories. 

6. Kansas admitted as a free State. 

7. Provisions made to admit Colorado, Nebraska 
and Nevada as free States. 

8. Organization of Idaho, Montano, Decotah and 
Arizona as free Territories. 



56 SLAVERY : 

9. Recognition of the independence of Hayti and 
Liberia. 

10. Three millions of slaves declared free by Pro- 
clamation of the President, Jan. 1, 1863. 

11. All Fugitive Slave Lavps repealed. 

12. Inter-slave trade abolished. 

13. Negroes admitted to equal rights in United 
States courts, as parties to suits and as witnesses. 

14. Equality of the negro recognized in the public 
conveyances of the District of Columbia. 

15. All rebel States prohibited from returning to 
the Union with slavery. 

16. Free labor established on numerous plantations 
in South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee 
and Arkansas. 

17. Schools for the education of freed slaves in 
South Carolinia, Tennessee, Lousiana, and in Eastern 
Virginia — where, till within three years, to educate 
the negro was punishable with death. 

18. The wives and children of all slaves employed 



ITS SIN AND DESTRUCTION. 57 

as freemen in military and other service of the 
United States made free. 

19. All negroes, bond and free, enrolled as part 
of the military force of the nation. 

!20. The loyal people of Arkansas, Tennessee, 
Louisiana and Florida seeking a return to the Union 
on the basis of freedom to all, and of the abolition 
and prohibition of slavery. 

21. The abolition and prohibition of slavery by an 
amendment of the Constitution passed in the Senate 
by a two-thirds majority, and by nearly the same 
in the House. Lost by lack of three or four votes. 

22. The nation through its representatives in Bal- 
timore, June 8, made the abolition and prohibition 
of slavery the basis of its governmental administra- 
tion for the future. 

2o. The Federal government forbidden to employ 
any man as a slave in any capacity. 

24. One hundred and fifty thousand negroes, 

movstly freed slaves, in the pay and uniform of the 

Government as soldiers. 
6 



58 SLAVERY : 

Number of slaves freed in Maryland, 87,188; in 
Delaware, 592; District of Columbia, 3,185; Vir- 
ginia, 163,629 ; Tennessee, 183,912 ; Louisiana, 
201,150; South Carolina, 67,066; North Carolina, 
55,176; Georgia, 154,066; Mississippi, 145,540, 
and Alabama, 145, 023. 




THE 

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

3U ^bc |resiknt of iht mmt^b States of ^nttnta. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whebbas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was is- 
sued by the President of the United States containing among other 
things "the following, to wit: 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within 
any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then 
be'in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforth and 
forever free, and the Executive Government of the United states, in- 
cludin" the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and 
maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to re- 
press such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for 
their actual freedom. , . -j v, 

•'That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid by 
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States if any, in whicl. 
Vhe people therein respectively shall then be in rebellion against the 

59 



60 THE EMANCirATION PllOCLAMATIOX. 



FriitPfl Stnte?, aiul the fact that any State, or the i)eople thereof, shall 
on that day ))e in jjood laiih represunteil in the CoD^ress of the United 
States by menibei's cliosjen the" eto, at elections wherein a maiority of the 
qualified voters of ^uch States shall have ])ai-ticii)ated. ^hall, in the ab- 
sence of strong countervailing testimony, ))e deemed e()nchisive evi- 
dence that such State and ihe peo])le thereof are not then in re)>eilior. 
against the United States." 

Now, therefore, I, Ab'aham Lincoln, Presid< nt of the United States, 
hy virtue of the ])0-.ver in me vested as Commaiid'^r-in chief (tf the -Avir-y 
mil Navy of the United States in time of actual and ai-med reb-lii i» 
against the authority and (iovernment of the United States, and a; a fit 
and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on tliis 
first day of January, in the year of our I-ord one thousand eight \:v\n- 
drcd ami sixty-three. an(] in accordance with ray purpose so to ih>. i>iib 
licly prociaiiaed for a full period of one hundred da^ s from the day of 
the first above-mentioned order, and designate, as the States and jiaits 
of States wherein the j>eople thereof res]>ectively are this day in rebel- 
lion against the United States, the following, to wit: Arkansas, Trxa.<, 
Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard; Plaifue mines. Jetlerson, 
St, Join), St Cliarles. St James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, 
Lafourche, St. Slary, St. Martin, and Orleans, includiug the city of .\i\r 
Orjean-i. Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Caroiinia, North 
I'arolinia and Virginia, except the forty -eight counties designated as 
West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Aecomac, .Northanij)- 
ton, Klizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Noifolk, including tee 
cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which excepted paits are, for the 
jjreseot, left precisely as if tiiis jiroclamation were not issued 

.And bj' virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order 
and declare that all persons held as .slaves witliin said designated States 
and ])arts of States are, and henceforward shall befi'ee; and that the 
Executive Government of the United States, including the .Military and 
.N'aval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of 
said i>ersons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the j>eople so declared to be free, to abstain 
from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I recommend to 
tnem, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasona- 
ble wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable 
condition will l>e received into the armed service of tlie United Stales 
to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and toman ves- 
ses of all sorts in said service. 

lAnd upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by 
the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate 
judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty Cod. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of AVasington, this first day of January, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 
[h. 8.] "and of the Independence of the United States of America tiie 
eighty-seventh, 

Abraham Lincoln. 

By the President: 

William H. SiiWAUD, Secretary of State. 



Ti.BLB LIST OF MORTiiLITY. 



Mortality lessens in the world as civilization and 

improvement advances. In England, 

In 1700, the deaths were as 1 in 25. 
1780, do. do. 1 in 40 

1790, do. do. Iin45. 

1800, do. do. 1 in 47. 

1810, do. do. 1 in 50. 

In London, from 1700 to 1750, deaths were as 3 
to 2 ; from 1750 to 1800, as 5 to 4 ; since 1800, as 
12 to 15. 

In Sweden, from 1755 to 1775, deaths were 1 in 
35 ; from 1775 to 1795, as 1 in 37. 

Of 100 new born infants in 1780, there died in 
two years, 50 ; at present, 38. 

In 1780, died before ten years old. . . . 55 

At present , 47 

Lived in 1780, to 50 years 21 

Live now to 50 32 

Lived in 1780, to 60 15 

Live now to 60 24 



59 




COMPARED WITH 




Would you study Nature to find out God? 
'Tis spirit only can read the record. 



THE L&IT6UAGE OF IT&TURE. 



I. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, 
In unison with his blessed word; 
In the firmament his power is seen 
Proclaiming the great Creator's reign ; 
Day unto day uttereth speech to the soul — 
Night unto night showeth knowledge as of old. 

II. 
Think ye silence has no sound, and that hence 
All is mute over Nature's wide expanse ? 
So with the sight, for 'tis equally true 
That much lies hid from the natural view. 
The eyes of the soul see in spirit-light. 
And comprehend not the natural night. 
As sense agrees to sense, so soul with soul ; 



64 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

One's mortal — the other's a livino; whole. 
Would you study Nature to find out God ? 
'Tis spirit only can read the record. 
Seek, then^ with harmony of soul the light, 
And unseen w^orlds will open to your sight. 

III. 

Close, then, the ear — shut out the grosser sound, 

And hear in every thing a living voice ; 
If sense disturb not this silence profound. 

The soul with vocal nature wall rejoice. 
Although Nature has charms for ears and eyes, 

Let not the outward sense the mind control ; 
But rather seek that which underlies 

The surface. Let soul commune with soul. 

IV. 

Inanimate nature is but a name, 

For organized life is every where. 
While the eye sees it only on the wing, 

Soul penetrates the rock and finds it there. 
Here are the workings of infinite mind ; 

And with what amazing mystery fraught! 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 65 

Here matchless wisdom and power combined 
. Unfold a page for venerated thought. 

V. 

Bow, then, my soul ! in grateful prayer 

Before thy God, who is present here ; 
Think not he dwells only in the skies ; 
Behold, he is here, all Nature cries. 
Up, down, have a mere relative sense, 
And are lost in Nature's vast expanse. 
Then say not of God, he's here or there, 
For the spirit sees him every where. 
Come, then, thou child of immortal birth! 
Together we'll visit old mother earth. 

VI. 
Venerable parent ! mother of all ! 

As we tread thy vast chambers, grant us light ; 
'Tis falsely said that darkness, like a pall, 

Locks up thy courts in one eternal night ; 
For a record is here, faithful and true, 

Written in characters that cannot lie ; 



66 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

Unfading as the rock on which we view 
The footprints of ages as the}' pass by. 

YII. 
And living creatures, all sportive and free, 

Have their existence in thy great warm heart; 
Each one fulfilling its own destiny^ 

And each acting out its allotted part. 
'Tis thus thy maternal bosom doth swell 

V\lth life infinite in degree and form, 
'Til each particle of earth, and each cell, 
Is the happy home of insect or worm. 

YIII. 

And here life and death to2;ether blend, 

And in death life finds a constant friend ; 

For death, we do see, is but a name, 

And is swallowed up of life again . 

I gaze upon the velvet lawn 

And think, as life begins to dawn, 

(Seeing death changed to living green, 

The type of never-ending Spring,) 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 67 

That then I fain would lay me down 
To repose in death's friendly arm. 

IX. 

matchless wisdom and love profound ! 

Lo ! every where ye do abound, 
Dispersing the gloom of darkness and night, 
And filling the soul with refreshing light ; 
E'en here in Nature's book we read 
How death but sows a living seed. 

X. 

If a man die shall he live again ? 

E'en Nature will make the question plain ; 
Things from one state to another live on, 
And death assumes life in some other form. 
Thus nothing is lost in nature, we see, 
And here the soul reads its own destiny ; 
For man is a nobler creation still, 
And is destined a higher sphere to fill, 

XL 
thou uncreated great first cause ! 

Man every where may read thy laws 



68 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

In the flowery plain and meadow green, 

Infinite power is plainly seen ; 

The roaring torrent and babbling brook, 

The lofty pine and giant oak, 

Do each in Nature's book record 

The glorious truth — there is a God. 

XII. 
The feathered songster, warbling there, 
In ev'ry note he does declare 
(As it vibrates sweetly on the air) 
A Creator kind and good ; 
And as he sings from tree to tree, 
thoughtless man I he speaks to thee. 
Ever saying, "Come learn of me ; 
Be grateful for your daily food." 

XIII. 
There is a God ; the lightning flies. 
Bearing the truth along the skies ; 
The rolling thunders too plainly speak 
Of a Creator mighty and great ; 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION, 69 

The truth is declared again and again 
By the rising vapor and falling rain. 

XIV. 

But hark ! another witness still ! 

What music soft and sweet ! 
'Tis the sound of the little rill ; 

How sweetly it doth speak. 
'Tis eventide — I'll sit me down, 

And while Nature's hushed in sleep, 
ril listen to your merry sound, 

And with thee thy vigils keep. 

XV. 

Come tell me, thou silvan stream ! 

As so softly you pass along. 
AVhere going? — whither hast thou been? 

I fain would listen to your song. 
Tliou speak'st to me of olden time. 

And still thou art flowing : 
Come, tell me of that foreign clime 

Whither thou art going. 



70 (TliE LANGUAGE Of MTtTHE 

XVI. 

And speak to me of mighty powers, 

Of life in many forms ; 
And speak to me of sunny bowers_, 

Of dark and pelting storms. 
Yes, speak to me of fleecy gold, 

Scenes radiant in the sky, 
Where magic beauty you unfold 

To the admiring eye. 
But onward, onward, you cannot stay; 

We will meet^ perchance, some other day; 
In the gentle rain or early dew, 

I'll seek again, sweet friend, for you, 

XVII. 

But nature, every where the same, 

Keeps up the inexhaustible theme ; 
If from one subject you turn away, 
Another will meet you on your way ; 
Thus you read her glorious record, 
That leads from Nature to Nature's God. 



COMPAHED with DlVlNti HEVELAflON. 71 

XVIII. 

So the mind_, ever anxious to soar, 

Never content, ever grasping more, 

Looks into space^. when every where 

Unseen wonderg do ever appear. 

The air, of v/hich man ever ]iath need, 

In the hiws of nature 'tis decreed, 

That go where he w^ill, 'tvfill seek him there. 

Whether he give thanks or e'en forbear ; 

Pressed gently by that, he can't feel or tsee, 

And moving with intense velocity, 

Yet pillowed all round with elastic air^ 

He passes on insensible of fear. 

XIX. 
Of life, it is the all-pervading source. 
So soft, and yet what an amazing force ! 
The atmospheric pressure that surrounds 
The body is thirty-two thousand pounds, 
And yet, strange to say, 'tis not felt by man. 
For a corresponding pressure within 



72 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

(And that which surrounds each and every part) 
Equilibriates the force and protects the heart. 

XX. 
Nature's great laboratory here 
Receives a purified atmosphere ; 
No decomposed matter can remain, 
But all is restored to life again. 
Faithful minister I how much we learn, 
As thy mysterious work goes on ! 

XXI. 
And then from death to life you turn, 
Seeking it in its early morn, 
The needful source of life supplying, 
The same you gathered from the dying ; 
How strange ! what mind should not here pause 
To contrast natural with moral laws ! 

XXII. 
'Tis Nature's philosophy we see, 
(And shall not theology agree ?) 
That death is a mean, and not an end, 
As some very pious souls pretend. 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 73 

If corruption puts on life again 

Must not incorruption remain ? 

Thus Nature teaches a better way, 

Than some great minds of the present day. 

But I turn, dame Nature, again to you ; 

Your teachings are ever faithful and true. 

XXIII. 
And Grod made a wind to pass over the earth, 
In which he commanded the air to go forth, 
For wind is air in motion, and here 
His wisdom and goodness both appear ; 
For if the air did quiet remain, 
Inland would perish for want of rain, 
But the clouds are driven to and fro, 
Scattering blessings where'er they go. 

XXIV. 

And then, as the mighty winds prevail, 
Filling the anxious mariner's sail, 
A highway's marked out upon the seas. 
Where a messenger, by ev'ry breeze, 
7 



74 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

Bears love and fraternal friendship abroad, 
Binding the nations with its golden cord. 

XXV. 
Then on, ye white- winged messengers of hope ! 

On your mission of truth and love, nor stop 
'Til heathen lands shall be fruitful and grow 
The seed that God sends his servants to sow ; 
'Til her waste places blossom as the rose, 
And there be none to hinder or oppose. 

XXVI. 
Rejoice, then, ye servants of God! 

As you bear abroad his blessed word ; 

Rejoice, ye ends of the earth ! 

Rejoice in God's eternal truth ! 

Jesus has triumphed — made an end of sin — 

And now he invites you to glory with him. 

XXVII. 
But the winds not only on the seas 
Do God's bidding, but among the trees ; 
These are compelled due homage to pay. 
In bowing their heads so gracefully. 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION, 75 

Reader, do you -pray f If not, then see 
And learn a lesson, e'en from the tree. 

XXVIII. 
But they also sing, and would you hear? 
Go to the forest, and there in prayer 
Seek, in harmony of spirit. 
The inspiration to inherit. 
The soul once tuned to these melodies, 
Would fondly linger among the trees. 

XXIX. 

If your thoughts with profit you'd employ. 

Just see with what animated joy 
Each tiny leaf, like a living thing, 
Moves as if conscious of life within. 
'Tis even so, for here, in the sun. 
Countless creatures live in sportive fun ; 
Although mysterious it doth appear, 
Each leaf's a world in its own little sphere. 
Omnipotent power ! for here we see 
Worlds multiplied as the sands of the sea. 



76 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

XXX. 

And God said, "Let there be light;'* 

And as man alone may disobey ; 
Chaotic darkness takes its flight 

Before the rising God of day. 
Well might the morning stars sing for joy, 
Their anthems in rapture repeat. 
As the new creation shouts the cry, 
' ' Welcome twin sisters — ' 'Light and Heat ! " 

XXXI. 
Amazing wonder ! majestic sight ! 
Thy life-giving heat and golden light 
Fill with joy the estatic soul, 
As revolving worlds around thee roll ! 
How strange_, as the hoary ages roll on, 
That man should cease to wonder at the sun. 

XXXII. 

Light and heat penetrate all bodies, 

And thus become most pleasing studies ; 
E'en a piece of crude and silent steel 
.Will the most important truths reveal. 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 77 

Here lies an element cold and dark, 

But strike the flint, it will give a spark, . 

Though for ages silent and unseen 

Will kindle a vast devouring flame, 

Or in a mild and radiant glow, 

A genial heat on all bestow. 

XXXIII. 
In wonder I gaze as I see thee burn ; 

Although my senses you would lock in sleep, 
From your carbon ashes how much I learn ! 

.And 'tis thus, I'll suppose, I hear thee speak : 
XXXIV. 
"Despise me not as here I lay, 
^ Although unseemly to the sight ; 
On wings transparent I'll fly away, 

And, after resting on alpine height, 
You'll meet me in some tiny flower, 
Where light and heat combine their power." 

xxxv. 

Come tell me then, thou kingly rose ! 
As your magic blushes you disclose. 



78 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

Decomposing the rajs of solar light, 
Sending the red only to our sight, 
Why is your loveliness so complete ? 
Do you absorb and radiate heat ? 
Ah ! yes ; and then you are wrapt within 
The warm aerial mantle of Spring. 

XXXVI. 

King of flowers, 'tis in you I find 

A gratitude far excelling mine ; 
The gaseous vapours you absorb 
In common with ev'ry plant and herb ; 
After which you do again restore 
To man a pure, healthy atmosphere. 

XXXYII. 

The carbon and hydrogen man don't need, 

And upon these you are content to feed ; 

As a thanksgiving for the early dew, 

A sweet odor on all you do bestow ; 

Then in your death what a lesson you teach ! 

How eloquently of beauty you preach ! 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 79 

XXXVIII. 

Pause, then, vain beauty, as you pass by, 
See those fading leaflets as there they lie ; 
Thy charms will so perish — ah ! how soon 
Must they return to the waiting tomb ! 

XXXIX. 
'Tis thus Nature speaks through the fading rose, 
And should it not cause us to cherish 
Thoughts of that beauty which ever more glows. 
And not of that which thus must perish ? 

XL. 

Yes, when we look into this starry space, this eter- 
nity of vastness, how the soul trembles and pants for 
its aerial flight! Like the reined charger, it is rest- 
less and eager for the race, and oh ! what a race ! 
what an eternal round of infinite progression ! 

But we will invite the reader's attention to a fur- 
ther contemplation (in prose) of the great centre uf 
this universe of worlds that infinite power and wis- 
dom has hung in space. And as we can draw very 
suitable comparisons between this and the Savior of 



80 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

mankind, (he being the centre of the moral universe.) 
our remarks will be accompanied with such reflections 
as may suggest themselves, first observing that as the 
entire planetary system is dependent on the sun for 
light and heart, (which is the life and soul of nature,) 
so all souls are dependent on Christ, the light of the 
moral universe, that lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world. It is from this source we receive 
that flame of love which burns upon the altar of the 
heart, and that purifies and inspires the soul. And 
how beautifully parallel are the laws of attraction ! 
As none of the members of the natural system can 
pass the bounds of these laws, it is fair to conclude 
from Nature's stand-point, that not one member of 
the human family, however outward appearances 
might seem to Justify an opposite belief, will ever 
pass entirely beyond that attraction and saving power 
which God has invested in his son, and which consti- 
tutes him the Savior of all men. "When I am lifted 
up," says the Savior, *'I will draw all men unto me.** 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 81 

Thus Nature is the preface of God's great book ; 
Revelation completes the glorious work. 
Nature is the twilight, revelation the sun ; 
God's the author of both, and their teachings are one. 
Mysterious orb I thou god of light, and world of 
worlds, whose infinite rays, marshaled in thine own 
glory, fills all space and wraps in splendor a depen- 
dent universe ! Who can behold thy spangled crest, 
those converging rays and golden beams, without awe 
and delight? With what majestic grandeur this 
world of flaming fire takes leave of his earthly child 1 
See with what apparent tenderness he draws in those 
life-giving rays, still lingering upon the velvet lawn, 
loth, as it were, to undo affection's embrace I and as 
each cloud parts with its lining of crimson ; as those 
golden threads are woven into robes of transcendent 
loveliness, with what majestic splendor he gathers 
them about him, and gracefully drops behind the 
western hills. And now as the evening shades close 
o'er this scene of indescribable beauty, a voice whis- 
pers, ' ' 'Tis the hour of prayer ! " Twilight, with her 
S 



82 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

sable veil, has covered the face of Nature, and the 
robin, whose last note still trembles upon the passing 
breeze, has gone to his nest. The cattle of a thous- 
and hills, whose tinkling bells still vibrate upon the 
air, have laid them down in quiet repose. All Na- 
ture is hushed in silence — a silence that speaks with 
inspired eloquence to the soul, saying, "How sacred 
is this hour ! " Arise, then, my soul ! and to Na- 
ture's consecrated temple thy oflfering bring ! Here 
bow thee and worship the living God. 

Here all things are pure and undefiled 
Save thyself, thou immortal child 

Of God ; but thou, 
"With wisdom and intelligence blest, 
As a slave to sin, that knows no rest, 

Do'st deign to bow ? 
But the way of the transgressor's hard, 
And ev'ry act has its own reward. 
No peace to the wicked, yet there's given 
Saving grace to all, and rest in heaven. 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 83 

But see, as the ev'ning shades prevail, 

The moon takes up the wondrous tale. 

How gracefully her silv'ry light 

Inaugurates the reign of night ! 
How majestically she glides along, as ever and anon 
an additional star makes its appearance, until the 
whole canopy of heaven is resplendent with the glory 
of revolving worlds. Grand and imposing scene ! 
And is this, as some would say, the work of chance : 
worlds thrown into space, suspended in air, and ever 
revolving with an exactness measured only by the 
minutest division of time ? Never ! 'Tis the fool 
who says in his heart, "There is no Grod." 

thou omnipotent power who do'st sprinkle with 
worlds this eternity of space ! thou God of love and 
universal Father, grant that while the mind contem- 
plates this vast and expansive dome of lights that the 
soul, on the wings of faith, may soar beyond to the 
still greater glory of the spirit world, the heavenly 
spheres, where angelic intelligences ever rejoice in the 
presence of God. 



84 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

Dear reader, this is the goal of thy soul's aspira- 
tions. And would you be one of this happy and glo- 
rified throng ? Remember that nothing unclean or 
defiled can enter the kingdom of heaven. 'Tis the 
Father's good will to gather all his children to this 
their heavenly home, through the power of omnipres- 
ent and infinite love ; yea, e'en though by scourging, 
it purge thy soul of all its dross, and bring thee once 
more as a little child to commence thy career of eter- 
nal glory. 

We have seen that G-od is present in all his works. 
Now, it is this divine presence (felt and realized) that 
constitutes the soul's heaven, whether in this or any 
other state ; and the degrees of heaven are just in 
proportion to the spiritual development. In the pres- 
ent state, the law of the mind being frequently 
brought into subjection to the law of the flesh, it 
naturally follows that the energies of the soul become 
weakened, and God's presence less felt and enjoyed. 
From this it will be seen that just as the soul is kept 
pure and undefiled by sin, will its enjoyment in- 



COxMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION 85 

crease, itself rise liigher in the atmosphere of spirit- 
life, and approximate nearer to the divine essence. 

Thus sin separates the soul from God, and causes 
man to wander an alien. We do not intend entering 
upon an examination of the nature of sin, nor what 
part man has to perform in its removal ; whether he 
is to be re-created, endowed with new faculties, or 
whether those he possesses are to be appealed to and 
quickened. Neither do we intend divscussing the 
Atonement, whether man's guilt be expiated by an 
infliction of the punishment and suiFerings due his 
own sins upon an innocent person, or whether the 
sufferings of the Savior were not the natural result of 
his mission, and had no further merit than just in 
proportion as they formed the attracting power to 
bring man back to his God. Suffice it to say, that 
salvation consists in being delivered from the power 
and thraldom of sin ; hence Christ's mission to the 
children of men. His name shall be called Jesus, 
for he shall save his people from their sins. " Be- 
hold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 



86 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

world," &c., &c. There are many pious souls who 
do not seem to believe this Scripture ; nevertheless, 
God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. 
Now suppose the great work of reconciliation be not 
completed in man's present state, will he therefore 
fail to accomplish that which he purposed in himself 
before the world began ? or, rather, will not the reign 
of grace be extended to the spirit-world, (and no 
other view can harmonize the Scriptures with them- 
selves and these with the attributes of God,) and man 
there continue his career of eternal progression from 
the highest point of moral improvement attained here? 
with, however, this very important advantage : In- 
stead of a body ever at variance with the spirit, in 
consequence of its antagonistic propensities and incli- 
nation to moral death, ("for the flesh lusteth to sin, 
and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death"); 
instead, T say, of being encumbered with this body of 
death, he will enjoy a complete deliverance from it, 
for in the resurrection this corruption will put on in- 
corruption, the natural be changed to the spiritual, 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 8/ 

and the soul thus disencumbered will stretch forth 
her wings, and with glorified body, 

Rise higher and higher. 

With increasing desire. 
Thus the enjoyments of hqp.\v§]^ |will ever increase 
with the soul's increasing ca^^^f .^'^- "From the above 



■'v^l 



we are led to believe that the old notion of heaven, 
as a place with certain bounds and limitations, over 
which a very large portion of God's children can 
never pass, is a delusion of the dark ages ; and with 
all deference to those who hold this belief, we are 
constrained to say, that truth is progressive, and that 
those who stand still must expect to be left behind. 
The kingdom of heaven is a state and condition of the 
mind, and is therefore within us ; and this truth will 
be realized just in proportion as we pass from under 
the reign of darkness, error and sin, into the broad, 
open light of the gospel of God's dear Son. The 
Scriptures surely nowhere indicate that the reign of 
grace will be suspended while one unreconciled soul 
remains. In what other sense can Jesus be the Sa- 



88 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

vior of all men V He came to seek that whicli is lost, 
and we are assured that he will not give up the king- 
dom to the Father until the last enemy be put under 
his feet, and he shall see of the travail of his soul and 
be satisfied. This, dear reader, is the great and good 
Shepherd that careth for the sheep. Think you if 
every soul but one were saved, he would desert that 
soulf In the parable of the lost sheep we have an 
answer to this question, and a true representation of 
the nature and character of the blessed Savior's mis- 
sion. Here we see the world's Redeemer going out 
in pursuit of the lost one, nor does he cease seeking 
until ho finds it, bearina^ it in his own lovino" bosom 
to the fold. This is the great centre and sun of the 
moral universe. His attractions may not be felt for 
the time being — an eclipse may have hid him from 
view — but he shines nevertheless ; yea, and will con- 
tinue to shine until all are brought to feel the power 
of his divine rays, and until the waters of iniquity 
that have deluged the soul be broken up, and pass off 
in tears of joy and repentance. 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 89 

Then crucify the body with all its fleshly lusts, and 
the soul, thus unfettered, will naturally rise and seek 
its affinity with the Father of all Spirits. The resur- 
rection will produce no miraculous change in man's 
nature, for the same faculties and the same identity 
will exist. Man is not a passive being ; and as glory 
ever points upward, he will have to ascend to it, in- 
stead of its descending upon him. God works by 
means, and these are always abundant; but man, 
alas! is ever prone to disregard them, in consequence 
of which he wanders a prodigal away from his God, 
and feeds upon the husks of sin in a foreign land. 
Now, the resurrection is one of the great means of 
restoration. Here the soul is delivered from its prison 
house, and the many fleshly hindrances having been 
left behind in the grave, it is once more free to exer- 
cise its normal j)owers. 

}3ut it seeks its freedom here ; 

Why, the^, wait for another sphere? 

With effort you will have to rise, 

Whether on earth or in the skies. 



90 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

God, both ill Nature and in grace, 
In every thing, in every place, 
Reveals a loving, smiling face. 
And ever seeks to bless, 
When the earth puts forth her increase, 

'Tis for thee. 
V/hen birds sing sweetly from place to place, 

'Tis for thee ; 
When flowers bloom in early Spring, 

'Tis for thee ; 
When the clouds drop refreshing rain, 

'Tis for thee ; 
God provides abundance of air 

For thee ; 
Bright waters sparkle ev'ry where 

For thee ; 
This universe he hung in space 

For thee; 
In the blessed Savior's death. 
Oh I what amazing love and grace 

For thee ! 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 91 

Then may I ever grateful be 

To thee, Father ! for I see 

In Nature thou dost care for me, 

And my daily wants supply. 

Thy blessings scattered all around, 

In touch, in taste, in sight^ in sound, 

Thy love and grace to all abound. 

And all may feel thee nigh. 

Grant, Father! this boon to man, 

That all may rightly understand 

Thy all-wise and loving plan. 

To reconcile all to thee. 

For, as the rain's impartial fall. 

So faith, repentance, is for all. 

The rich, the poor, the great, the small. 

Shall all thy glory see. 
Dear reader, what a glorious hope is this ! May 
it purify our hearts, and make us fit companions for 
that innumerable throng who have entered within the 
vale 



92 THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE 

Where they cast their bright and starry crowns 

At the Redeemer's feet ; 
High in the heavens the echo sounds, 

As his praises they repeat : 
Crying, holy, holy, is the lamb, 
Worthy art thou to reign. 
As in robes of light they march around 
The Savior's shining throne. 
This glorious, rapturous scene, 

We worms of earth may share. 
For soon (oh I joy !) this world of sin 

In death will disappear. 
The battle is o'er, the victory's won. 
The conquering Savior proclaims 'tis done ! 
'Tis finished, Father! and sealed with the cross ; 
All souls were mine — "all are returned without loss.'' 

The reader will pardon this digression, as our sub- 
ject would naturally lead to such thoughts and reflec- 
tions. We have endeavored to show that God wills 
that all men shall be saved and brought to a knowl- 
edge of the truth. So we read in Nature and in rev- 



COMPARED WITH DIVINE REVELATION. 93 

elation ; but just as sure as the child that puts its fin- 
ger in the fire is burned, so sure will every transgres- 
sion or act of disobedience (whether to natural or re- 
vealed laws) meet with a just recompense of reward. 

There is a world all desolate and dark ; 

'Tis neither up, nor down, hut in the heart. 

"Woe!" is the password to this dismal hell, 

And its tortures all guilty souls must feel. 
Men cannot transgress the laws of Grod with impu- 
nity ; but we believe all punishments to be discipli- 
nary and reformatory , inflicted for an all-wise pur- 
pose, and that this purpose will not fail. As for the 
origin of evil, (although it has greatly perplexed the 
most able minds,) we do not think it so dark a sub- 
ject. "Man was created subject to vanity, not Wil- 
li n^^-ly, but by reason of him who subjected the same 
in hope." Here is light, and none could fail to see 
it, did not a false theology make evil an end instead 
of a means. God, the great First Cause, the Crea- 
tor, the Redeemer, our Father, reigns and rules. 



94 THE LANGUAGE OF NATtJRE. 

"We are firm and happy in the belief that all men (in 
the end) will be the better for having passed through 
this lower school of experience, and that the suifer- 
ings and afflictions of this present life ' ' will work for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 



GOD IH EYEIIY THING. 



[Fiom the Millennial Harbinger.) 

The intellect of man has undergone a great revolu- 
tion since the development of the inductive mode of 
reasoning. For many centuries the dialectics of Aris- 
totle governed the whole mental world, and kept in 
logical fetters the intellect of the human race ; but we 
have happily been delivered from tins thraldom, and 
the progress of knowledge in a very few years has 
been truly astonishing. 

The ancients loved to speculate upon the abstract 
essences of spirit and matter, and the keen subtlety 
of their intellect peculiarly fitted them for this kind 
of investigation ; but the moderns, wholly unlike 
them, critically analyze all things they are called on 
to believe, or upon which they are to act. 



&6 , GOD IN EVERY THING. 

In this change we have lost that glowing enthusi- 
asm — that high-wrought ideality which distinguished 
those of the olden time, and perhaps, likewise, we 
have lost too much of that deep veneration which 
characterized their minds when looking upon the 
grand or awful display of the phenomena of nature. 
This effect, however, might be anticipated from the 
course of popular education which tends to give a 
knowledge of the universe wholly abstracted from the 
great source of all things, and this great error has 
undermined that high religious feeling, and induced 
an inflated scepticism which presumes to explain every 
effect in nature by some physical cause, not perceiv- 
ing that every created cause is but an effect, and that 
God is the great ^rs^ cause of all things. 

The grand central thought in all correct education 
is to lead the youthful mind to see God in every thing. 
While it gives a correct knowledge of all causes and 
effects known to man, it never permits Jehovah to be 
lost sight of, or a hard and unfeeling analysis to take 
the place of that profound veneration which listens »to 



GOD IN EVERY THING. 97 

the solemn reverberations of the thunder through the 
deep vault of heaven, as the best earthly emblem of 
the voice of the Almighty. While it displays the 
laws which govern the life of the animalcule which 
floats in the sunbeam, and the giant mammoth of the 
ages gone by, it stops not at the law, but elevates the 
mind to that Being who could display his power in a 
thing so minute as perfectly as in one so grand. 
While it explains the principles which govern the life 
of the vegetable world, it comments upon the inimi- 
table beauty of the tiny flower and the commanding 
majesty of the lofty cedar as but another evidence of 
the kindness of our heavenly Father in thus giving 
us both the beautiful and useful to add to our happi- 
ness in time. In short, true education never stops 
short of the throne of God ; for the grand intention of 
all correct instruction is to make us love him more 
ardently and adore him more profoundly. 

The whole universe is full of benevolent design. 
We cannot take a single step without perceiving fresh 

displays of the work of an almighty hand. Around, 
9 



98 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

above and beneath us, we see God in every thing. 
Let us look for a short time at the constitution of our 
atmosphere, as a beautiful illustration of the love and 
wisdom of God in providing for the happiness of man. 
The air we breathe is one of the most abundant 
things of which chemistry treats. Animals and 
plants, from the lowest to the highest grade, depend 
upon it for life. The first act of the infant is to in- 
hale the air, and the last mortal struggle of the dying 
man is an effort to catch its inspiring breath. This 
fluid surrounding the earth to the distance of about 
forty-five miles^, and so nicely adapted to be the home 
of every thing that breathes, has been the object of 
profound study to the learned in all ages, and was 

Jhg considered as an element ; but modern analysis 
is proved it to be a compound, made up of two 
gasses — oxygen and nitrogen — -so perfectly balanced 
for the support of life, that to take from or add to 
either principle, would totally defeat the end contem- 
plated. This is tM&Dnly fluid with which we are 
acquainted that would support life. Oxygen is the 



GOD IN EVERY THING. 99 

vivifying principle : it gives beauty to the cheek and 
vigor to the frame; and, combined with carbon, is 
the cause of animal heat. Nitrogen is a negative 
principle, which acts, so far as we can judge, merely 
to dilute the oxygen. No other gas, except nitrogen 
could be mixed with oxygen so as to answer the end 
of our atmosphere. Hydrogen may be temporarily 
combined with it, and animals and plants might live 
in it for a short time, but derangement of all the vital 
functions would be the effect of a continuous respira- 
tion of it. Animals kept in it for any length of time 
become dull and stupid as if exposed to narcotic influ- 
ence. If this had been the constitution of our atmos- 
phere, instead of the active life now every where 
manifested, a universal gloom and lethargy would 
seize upon every living thing ; thus making this fair 
creation a place of silence and of death. 

But another effect, even more disastrous than this, 
would be the consequence of such an atmospheric con- 
stitution. Oxygen and hydrogen form a most explo- 
sive mixture ; combined in certain proportions, a sin- 



100 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

gle spark of fire would make it flash like gunpowder ; 
and thus the earth would be destroyed by a universal 
conflagration ; so that we would be exposed at any 
moment to the most horrible of all disasters — a raging 
fire, which nothing could quench. If there was any 
other compound which would answer the end of our 
atmosphere, the sceptic might appear to have some 
ground for triumph ; but the absence of all such is an 
incontestible proof that the Being who made the frame 
of man designed and prepared the atmosphere for the 
support of his animal life. 

But the evidence of design does not end in the 
choice of principles. It extends to the proportions in 
which they are invariably found mixed. If oxygen 
prevailed in the atmosphere to a greater extent than 
at present, every living thing would soon be exhausted 
by the intensity of its action, as the fire is soonest ex- 
tinguished which burns with the greatest fierceness, 
and thus the earth would become as silent as the tomb 
from the unwise preponderance of a principle which, 



GOD IN EVERY THING. IQl 

in its present diluted state, gives life and energy to 
all animated nature. 

Again, if nitrogen were mixed in greater volume 
than at present, a hebitude would steal over every 
faculty of mind and body. The blood, wanting its 
needful stimulus, would cease its active flow, and in 
a purple current would creep through the lifeless 
veins. The intellect, sympathizing with the para- 
lyzed frame, would cease its action, — reason would 
refuse her office — imagination would fold her wings, 
and even the religious feeling would cease to fill the 
heart with its glad and elevated inspiration. Thus 
we see that if we either alter the constituents or 
change the proportions of the atmosphere, we destroy 
the work of the All- Wise, who has adapted every 
thing to the wants of his creatures. 

But every thing that breathes and burns makes war 
upon this balance so exquisite and uniform. The 
countless fires upon the face of the earth arc supported 
altogether by oxygen. The myriads of animals which 
breathe the breath of life, absorb the oxygen and give 



102 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

back to the air carbonic acid gas, a poisonous com- 
pound, which, when inspired, is destructive to human 
life. How, then, is the equilibrium between the con- 
stituents of the atmosphere maintained, which is so 
constantly invaded by such potent enemies? By what 
wise adjustment is harmony made to triumph over the 
principles of discord '? 

If the gasses were governed by that lav\^ which 
keeps bodies of the greatest specific gravity nearest 
the earth, then carbonic acid gas, which is more than 
twice the weight of the atmosphere, would settle all 
over the surface of the earth, and thus this beautiful 
creation, like the grotto at Naples, would be filled 
with a vapor destructive of life. 

But this casualty was foreseen by the Omniscient 
Eye, and a bountiful provision made for it. The 
particles of each gas are so constructed that they press 
only in kindred particles, and offer but a slight resis- 
tance to the free passage of any other gas. Thus the 
two gasses of which the atmosphere is composed 
readily permeate each other's interstices, and the car- 



GOD IN EVERY THING. 103 

bonic acid, though much heavier than the air, rises 
into it without difficulty, for the particles of air rest- 
ing upon each other, are to the acid as if a vacuum 
existed above it ; and in this manner the surface of 
the earth is relieved from what would be its destruc- 
tion. 

But the purity of the atmosphere would still be in- 
vaded by the presence of too great a quantity of this 
poisonous gas, and the wisdom of the Maker is stri- 
kingly displayed in the provision by which it is reduced 
to a healthful ratio. 

Vegetables find in carbonic acid their most accep- 
table food, and absorb it with avidity. But this ab- 
sorption might, in time, rob the atmosphere of too 
much of its oxygen. This would be the case if the 
plant had not the power to separate the constituents 
of the acid, to mingle the carbon with its own tissues, 
and throw off the pure oxygen into the air again. It 
is in this way that every plant, shrub, flower and tree 
lends its influence to keep the vital breath around us 
free from a corrupt influence, which otherwise would 



104 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

poison the very source of life. Water also absorbs 
carbonic acid and returns pure oxygen to the air; 
thus aiding to prevent its too great accumulation. 

We cannot too much admire the wisdom which pro- 
vided for the maintenance of an equilibrium in an 
essential element of life^ when accumulation of any 
one principle would be death. Thus the poisonous 
miasma floating in the atmosphere becomes so dilated 
with the life-giving principle that it becomes innox- 
ious ; and the air under the action of this law of 
gasses cannot become stagnant, for the particles easily 
glide over each other, and are constantly altering 
their position ; consequently there can be no delete- 
rious accumulation of any of the constituents of the 
atmosphere, nor of any foreign matter which circum- 
stances might introduce into it. 

Another beautiful provision to prevent the stagna- 
tion of the atmosphere deserves the admiration of the 
student. Heat rarifies it and causes it to ascend, and 
the colder and heavier body of air around rushes in 
to supply the place of the fluid which ascends. The 



GOD IN EVERY THING. 105 

effects of this law are truly admirable. The stratum 
of air which at one moment reclines upon the bosom 
of the earth, and which would in a short time become 
intensely heated, in the next moment ascends to the 
regions of frost, where it becomes heavier by cold, 
and then descends refreshed from its aerial flight to 
give its cool breath to the flowers upon the plains be- 
neath. The sun, pouring his fiery rays directly upon 
the tropical regions, would render that part of the 
earth uninhabitable did not the asrial wave which to- 
day floats over the heated equator, ascend and bear 
its warmth to the polar ices ; while the condensed 
atmosphere of the northern regions comes in to sup- 
ply its place and gladden the tropics with its delicious 
coolness. Thus the great atmospheric ocean is con- 
stantly moving, and hence the phenomena of winds 
to which the atmosphere owes its vitality, purity and 
sweetness. 

The air at rest is one of the worst conductors of 
heat ; and if this apparently unimportant law were 
changed, and the air became a conductor, the earth 



106 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

could not be inhabited by man. The tongue placed 
upon a piece of steel on a morning when the ther- 
mometer is a few degrees from zero^ instantly adheres 
to it by freezings because the metal conducts the hent 
more rapidly from the tongue than it can be gener- 
ated; and for a similar reason tlie fingers are quickly 
blistered by frozen mercury; it draws off their heat 
more quickly than they can generate it. Now sup- 
pose the air possessed the conducting power of the 
steel, our warmest clothing would be of no avail, 
houses could not shelter us^ lire could not preserve us, 
In spite of cveiy eflbrt to preserve the vitaHvarmth, 
it would soon become exhausted, and the human race, 
at a temperature above 32°, the freezing point of wa- 
ter, would become extinct. As it is, man braves the 
most intense cold of the polar winter, where the mer- 
cury freezes in the open air, and the only animal seen 
abroad after sunset is the arctic fox. The air in mo- 
tion soon sinks the temperature of the human body, 
because each new wave abstracts a portion of heat. 
But it has been wisely ordered that in the coldest cli- 



GOD IN EVERY THING. 107 

mates winds rarely blow in winter, and the animals 
of those frozen regions are clothed with furs and 
doA\'n, which, confining the air in their porous tex- 
tures, become the worst of all conductors. Thus 
man, learning wisdom from nature, has appropriated 
to himself many of those admirable substances, and 
clothed in this panoply fearlessly commits himself to 
frozen oceans and icy poles. 

It would take a long time to exhaust this subject, so full 
of beautiful adaptations, so rich in evidence of design. 
Who can doubt the existence and control of an all- 
wise Creator when contemplating laws so beautiful — - 
adaptations so perfect. Methinks that a youth edu- 
cated in this way to see the perfections of God in the 
constitution of the universe, might be exposed with- 
out fear to the influence of infidel principles ; for the 
testimony is so ample and overwhelming, so perfectly 
familiar, and within his grasp, that if he has only 
been educated to see God in every thing, there is no 
adverse influence can touch him. The idea that so 
much wisdom is but the work of blind chance, is ab- 



108 GOD IN EVERY THING. 

horrent to his mind ; for he sees a benevolent Creator 
in earth, and sea, and sky, and he feels that "the 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
showeth his handy work." 



THE EARTH. 



[From the Millennial Harbinger.) 

It is evident that God would have us learn his 
character and glorious attributes, not only from reve- 
lation, but also from nature. He has implanted in 
us the desire to know the hidden causes of thingS' — 
given us capacities whereby we may gratify that de* 
sire — and unrolled, in the broad volume of creation, 
inexhaustible pages of magnificence and wisdom, from 
which we can derive knowledge and instruction. The 
saints in all ages have delighted to hold converse with 
the still spirit that broods over this breathing world, 
and acknowledge, in the murmur of the rill, the roar 
of the torrent, the springing of the flower and the 
tough-rooted majesty of the oak, the gentle shower 



110 THE EARTH. 

and the impetuous storm — in every accent loud or 
low, which in ten thousand voices awake the sublime 
evidences she ever and always utters of the goodness, 
wisdom and power 
' ^ That plann\l, and huilt, and still upholds a world y 

So clothed with beauty for rebellious man.^^ 
Whether we look to the interior of our globe or con- 
fine our observation to its surface, we are filled with 
admiration at the vastness of the scale on which God 
has been, and is still operating for his fallen creatures. 
We have already adverted to those stupendous strides 
by which old chaos mounted, through successive for- 
mations, to what, in the poetry of our admiration, we 
are pleased to call the present beautiful earth, and 
seen in it all, how wonderful are his ways, with whom 
a thousand years are as one day and one day as a 
thousand years I But these are, in the main, the 
vailed wonders of the earthly tabernacle. They are 
the familiar altars of nature's High Priests only. 
They can only be approached with that full intimacy 
which makes them ti'uly known by him who has 



THE EARTH. UJ 

caught incense from the altar of science, and can 
sprinkle his path with the sacrifice of many a toilsome 
hour of devotion. It is in this outer court that we 
may all enter and adore. The broad bosom of the 
earth is spread out in living colors before us, and we 
are invited by all its variety and vastness, to make 
its acquaintance. But its very attractions deter us. 
So manifold are its wonders — so intricate its myste- 
ries, that we falter upon the threshold and have not 
courage to enter. 

Much of our discouragement, however, arises from 
our own negligence to inquire, and much from the 
very artificial modes in which we have been taught to 
examine. All our systems of geography contemplate 
the earth more as a stage for political intrigue, a vast 
and complex amphitheatre, in which kings may tilt 
and subjects bleed — a mighty chess-board, on which 
the bloody game of war is played, for the regal prize 
of conquest, than as the footstool of Jehoval, the fal- 
len object of his unwearied love, and the scene of that 
remedial grace, which works and energises in us and 



112 THE EARTH. 

by us for the renovation and glory of man. It is to 
be lamented that in tracing out the artificial bounda- 
ries of kingdoms and numbering their subjects, we so 
often forget the broad outlines that God has given us, 
and that good which he designed by them, for his 
creatures. It is thus that the mind is turned away 
from the contemplation of the power of God to the 
glory of the king, and the wisdom and goodness of 
his gifts, to the prudence and forethought of an earth- 
born, like ourselves. 

If we could fancy ourselves destitute of all this 
knowledge and gifted with the science to comprehend 
at a glance, the whole surface of our earth, we should 
find, that it is not flat as the ancient poets supposed, 
but a globe — almost a perfect sphere, with a surface 
diversified, not indeed by the lines of boundary be- 
tween nations and the petty princes that lord it over 
its domains, but by those stronger and more enduring 
delineations of wisdom — seas, and continents and 
islands. In the arrangement, proportion and physi- 
cal appearance of these, we should find much to mar- 



THE EARTH. 113 

vel at and to study. We could not help being filled 
wit'i astonishment at the vast preponderance of water 
over the general surface. Stand where we would, 
too, on the great bosom of the deep, we should find, 
that it was all a unit. Not many divisions, isolated 
and disconnected from each other, but all one great 
and unbroken circulation — feeling softly its way in 
the rivulet, or dashing, headlong and furious, in the 
torrent. Not a vibration wakes its pulse beneath us, 
that does not tremble to the remotest shores of its un- 
measured reach ;— but one and unsevered this great 
heart of the earth beats, the same on the coasts of 
Yeru — against the icy barriers of the South — around 
the spicy isles of the East — amidst the regions of 
eternal sunshine, and the dreary solitudes of unmelt- 
ing snows. God has measured it in the hollow of his 
hand, and there it waves, covering in its broad bosom 
a hundred and fifty millions of miles, — three-fourths 
of the entire surface of the globe, and sufficient in 
quantity to bury it all nearly eight thousand feet in 

water ! 

10 



114 THE EARTH. 

What an overwhelming spectacle is here I And at 
first, what an unmeaning waste of waters is thus roll- 
ing around us ! But we look more closely, and how 
beautifully it is working, by God's appointment, for 
the comfort and happiness of man, tempering the ver- 
tical suns of the tropics and moderating the searching 
blasts of the poles — thus equalizing and controlling 
the otherwise disastrous chans-es of climate and ma- 
king habitable and salubrious the abode of man. 
From its surface, too, are rising the restless vapors, 
which floats, by the breezes it creates, far to the in- 
land fields, watering the thirsty earth, and keeping 
in abundant and exhaustless supplies the fountains of 
rivers and of lakes. That shower we see falling, and 
that river which 

Lahkur et lahetar in omne voluhih's ccrum, 
(Flows and shall flow through every age the same) — ■ 
have both come from its bosom ; and, after their long 
journey through the air, on the wings of the wind, 
are returning, by the simple laws of gravity, to their 
ocean home again. On its shores, countless throngs 



THE EARTH. 115 

are settled, subsisting upon its ample stores of fish 
and salt, and looking for the white sail or the puffing 
steamer, which are borne on its bosom, from the dis- 
tant zones of the earth, and laden with the luxuries 
they produce. Its great currents, too, pouring in 
their purified supplies from the poles, and keeping in 
perpetual motion the great mass of waters, preserre 
it ever fresh and uncorrupted, and show by what sim- 
ple yet majestic compensations, God maintains the 
harmonies of his universe. 

Turning our attention to that other portion of sur- 
face, we call the land, making about one-fourth only 
of the whole — we are filled, if possible, with more 
confusion than before. Standing over the eastern 
shore of the great island of New Holland, and turn- 
inor our face towards the North — we shall see on our 
left, rising from the Cape of Good Hope, the great 
mountain chain of Africa, called "the Spine of the 
World;" before us, from the centre of Thibet, through 
Chinese Mongolia, towards Okotsk, and thence to the 
extreme eastern promontory of Asia, another vast 



116 THE EARTH. 

chain of mountains stretching from southwest to north- 
east; and on our right — that vast and unbroken 
chain of the highest mountains on the globe, which 
ranges along the whole coast of America, from the 
Straits of Behring to Cape Horn, and closely borders, 
with its tremendous j^recipices, the shores of the great 
Pacific. We are thus in the midst of an immense 
circle, whose circumference^ with only occasional 
breaks, is composed of lofty and inhospitable moun- 
tains, and within which is embraced the greater part 
of the waters of the earth. Between us and these, in 
the North, falling towards the ocean, is the great 
kingdom of China, called by themselves, possibly from 
its position, Chium-hoa, the Middle Kingdom. Be- 
yond these mountains lies the great mass of the tvro 
continents into which the whole of the land surface is 
divided by the narrow Straits of Behring. If this 
were filled up, we should have but one continent and 
but one ocean. But what a variety is here ! Detached 
and irregular mountains — high, but level table lands 
• — extensive and fertile diluvial and alluvial plains — 



THE EARTH. 117 

majestic rivers — peaceful lakes, and every diversity of 
climate which the uncounted desires of man can crave. 
Here, too, is the pestilence-breeding marsh, the belch- 
ing volcano, and convulsing earthquake, — all parts of 
this great whole, and all in wisdom regulated for man's 
ultimate good 

Nature, like the chemist, has her laboratory. The 
mountains are her refrigerators. It is by these she 
cools, condenses, and deposites the vapors which rise, 
under the influence of the sun, from the surface of 
the ocean ; by these she manufactures the storm and 
arouses the whirlwind — racks into purity the stagnant 
air, and washes into freshness and life the arid plains 
beneath. Man needs dry land for other purposes than 
agriculture and manufacture. Life, and health, and 
locomotion, are more important than great cities or 
lu-oad plantations ; — hence God has not forgotten these 
in the economy of nature, but has diversified the earth 
with these secondary agents of his goodness^ lakes 
and rivers, and variety of climate, to irrigate the soil, 
transport his produce, and connect, by links of mutual 



118 m^ MMH, 

intercourse and dependence, every portion of the 
habitable earth. 

Nothing can be more appalling than volcanoes and 
earthquakes. We are apt to consider the crust of 
earth, upon which We reside^ as so solid and unchange- 
able a mass that it can neither be shaken or rent ; but 
in many regions it is far from a state of repose. In 
the foci of volcanoes nothing can be more disastrously 
unstable than the crust of the earth. Within the life 
of a single generation the entire aspect of a neighbor- 
hood is changed — -cities are engulphed in yav/ning 
fissures — -hills levelled down and dislocated-— moun- 
tains heaved up and crystalized- — inhabitants buried 
in ruins, and the most appalling transformations ef- 
fected in the whole resfion. Yet these have been, in 
the past developments of the earth, agents of the 
greatest good. All the useful and necessary variety 
of mountain and plain-^hill and valley— -river, and 
lake, and island, has been, in an unquestioned degree, 
the effect of their agency ; and though their phenom- 



ena now, are not so evidently connected with benefi- 
cial results, we are at no loss to infer, from the past 
and the present combined, that they still play an im- 
portant part among the great regulating and conserv- 
ative powers of our globe. 

But amidst so much to admire and to enjoy, is there 
nothing to deplore and avoid ? Are all the successive 
creations, each of which God pronounced '*good" and 
and all of which He declared to be "ceru good,'''' still 
good ? Are there no bitter waters mingled in this 
great fountain of general beneficence? Surely yes. 
Man has fallen, and his habitation is cursed ; but it 
is cursed for his sake. The very sweat of our brow 
will one day be seen clearly to be a blessing, and the 
seeds of death which are around us and in us will ger- 
minate to the bringing forth of eternal life. Happy 
the man who can thus look upon nature, and trace in 
every arrangement a final cause of mercy ! And 
should not all Christians so regard these manifold 
works of Him who in wisdom hath made them all, 



l^O THE EAUTK, 

and be ready with the Psalmist to exclaim, "0 Lord, 
the earth is full of thy riches I So is this great and 
wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, 
both small and great beasts." 

W. K. P. 



